Iran disbands morality police as Mahsa Amini death protests spiral

TEHRAN – Iran has suspended its morality police after months of massive protests over the death of a young woman in its custody.

"Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary and have been abolished," Iran’ Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying late Saturday by the ISNA news agency.

Officially called the Guidance Patrol, the police unit used to monitor behavioural actions at major intersections and roads in the Iranian cities.

It is unclear whether the department will be reestablished under a new mandate or have been disbanded forever.

In September last, Mahsa Amini, 22, had travelled to Tehran with her family to visit relatives when she was arrested by the Guidance Patrol officers for allegedly not wearing headscarf in a proper way on September 14. She had been declared dead at Kasra Hospital on September 16, with activists claiming that she had been tortured to death during the custody.

The death jolted the whole country and sparked massive protests across the country. The United Nations said more than 300 people, including security officials, have died in the protests. 

Iran’s first supreme leader Khomeini's house set ablaze amid recent anti-govt protests